Marrying Ember(21)

The amount of downtime that faced us filled me with anxiety. We had two days until the Vallejo show, and a whole week after that before the next set of shows in Napa.

The night we got to Vallejo, Ember, as promised, caught Regan up on everything. The following day, everyone kind of went their own ways, rambling around Vallejo for the day. Ember skillfully avoided both her parents, and any conversation about them.

“You’ve been weird today. Is everything okay?” Ember asked as we wound through the end of a trail at the edge of the park where we were staying.

There was a large rock to my left. I stopped at it, pulling Ember with me and making her sit. I was on edge about Monica’s arrival, hoping she’d get here with words of wisdom, but in the meantime, I had to try.

“What’s going on?” Ember asked.

“I need you to hear me here, okay?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

“You know I wouldn’t say this if I didn’t fully mean it with everything I have. I don’t use it as a social crutch …”

“What are you talking about?”

“Ember … you have both of your parents. And you get to spend every day with them doing exactly what you all love doing—”

“Stop.” Ember stood and started walking toward the head of the trail. “You don’t get to make me feel guilty. I’m sorry my parents are still alive, but that doesn’t mean I never get to be mad at them.”

“You stop.” I caught up to her and grabbed her upper arm, spinning her around. Her lips parted, seeming breathless at the forcefulness in my voice. “Listen. You know I don’t mean it as a guilt trip. We’ve been over this for almost a year. Just because it now applies to you doesn’t mean you get to go back on your word, Ember. I’m trying to tell you how much your dad loves you. He’s the only man in the universe who loves you more than I could ever dream of. And that’s a fact.”

“Why are you pushing me?” She closed her mouth and clenched her teeth.

“Pushing you? I haven’t said a thing. You asked me to run interference with them, and for the last two days I’ve done just that. It’s time to move, Ember. It’s time to face it.”

In a second, her facade deflated like a balloon. Her shoulders sank and her face paled. “What if I can’t?” she whispered, looking up at me through wide eyes.

I lifted her chin with my index finger. “You can. I’ll be there with you if you need me to be. Or I’ll wait in the woods if that’s what you want. Every day of your life, Ember, I’ll be there when you need me. And, when you think you don’t, I’ll still be there. Just in case.”

She shifted her lips, kissing my finger. “I need you every day.”

“Let’s go, then.” I nodded to the trailhead, where I knew the group was likely returning to the campsite.

As we reached the edge of the trail, a shrill sound that could only be described as girl pierced my ears.

“Ember!” As Ember and I made our way to the clearing, Monica sped at lightning speed toward us, nearly tackling Ember to the ground with her hug.

“Monca?! You’re not supposed to be here for another week!” Ember shrieked and the friends jumped up and down.

“Just a hi will do.” Walking toward us, next to Regan, Georgia spoke dryly, with a smirk.

“Georgia? What the hell?” Ember ignored Georgia’s request, and gave her a hug as well. One that Georgia graciously returned.

“Well, I hired someone to help my mom with the bakery because I was tired of missing all the fun. Monica called me and told me about her travel plans, so I jumped on board.”

Ember looked between Monica and Georgia. “You guys haven’t met before.”

Monica rolled her eyes. “Jesus, Ember, do you think I’d trust my best friend around any old female? Hell no. I got to the bottom of that shit, and quick. Georgia and I have been chatting for a while …”

As the girls walked toward the lake in a cackle of giggles and erratic hand motions, Monica looked over her shoulder and gave me a wink. When they disappeared out of sight, I turned to Regan, who looked as shellshocked as I felt.

“What was that?” I asked.

“This is what I gathered when I picked them up from the airport.” He took a comically deep breath while he looked to the sky. “Apparently, once you talked to Monica about discussing the engagement with Georgia, Monica looked up the bakery phone number and gave Georgia a thorough interrogation regarding her friendship credentials.”

I scrunched my nose. “How’d Georgia handle that one?”

“Well, apparently she told Monica to back the f*ck off, and Monica told her that she passed the test. They both laughed, and that was that.”

“Okay,” I sat down at the nearest picnic table, “that doesn’t explain how they both ended up here at the same time.”

Regan sat next to me. “Oh, right. Well, once I got the story on everything the other day with Ember, I called Georgia. She’s my girlfriend, I get to tell her stuff.”

“Of course.”

“Apparently, then, Georgia called Monica to make sure she knew what was going on, because they both know that Ember can be oddly reserved. Even with people she loves.”